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St John’s US Virgin Island

Crab at Fish Bay

St. John is an idyllic tropical island in the Caribbean known for it’s great beaches and hiking trails. While over half the island is national park, I decided to go off the trails and forge my own path. My goal was to start my trek on the souther part of the island (Fish Bay) and work my way to Camelberg Peak, one of it’s highest points. During mid hike, I was forced to reconsider my route and found myself taking a very different, but extremely satisfying course on this USVI hike. See the video for the whole story.

Location: St. John’s USVIGPS Trail Head Coordinates: 18.322N 64.766W (Fish Bay)GPS Waypoints:GPXCSVKMLGoogle mapsDuration: Approximately 4 hours at moderate pace with time for sightseeing and rests.Season (video): SpringWeather Conditions (video): CloudyTrail (video): Follow the river NNWDifficulty: ModerateViews: Fish Bay, Stream, small waterfallsState Park: Near Virgin Island National ParkAccess: Take the ferry from St. Thomas (Red Hook) to St. Johns (Cruz Bay). Take a taxi or walk to where you want to start your hike.Recommended Supplies: 3 x 750ml (20 OZ) bottles of water or sports drink (more during heat/summer), a small snack, map, compass & first aid kit.Other: Day Hike, tropical island, stream, waterfallCommon Wildlife Encounted: Crabs, Iguanas and BirdsSafety Direction (if lost): Highway 10 runs East-West through the middle of the island, if your in the southern part of the island, head north.

Glad you enjoyed the video, hope you have a great time in St. Johns USVI. I’m not sure if there’s a week forth of hiking there but definitely enough for a few days + visits to the other VI’s. Enjoy the beaches!

THX for your “Recording” / Presenting your trip to St. John island ( USVI ). 1. Very good overview of “topography” / bio-nature of the Island. #2 Your “bushwacking” (“Trail-blazing”) thru UNchartered territory / NON “pre-programed” trail, up from Fish Bay, was a good way of depicting the “UNdeveloped” Natl’ Park setting #3 why didn’t you choose one of the “established” paths / trails? – I assume, because of time (you musta been on a “Carnival” cruise outta FLL to St. T., huh? #4 what month was it? March / April ? THX, Tom

Thanks Tom#2. Glad you enjoying the site/videos. Please share the “totally cool” site with anyone who may find it of interest

Due to timing of having to get back on the ship (NCL from NYC, not Carnival from FLL) I was limited on what trail choices I had. However, most of the trails (at least from the official trail map) didn’t seem to challenging (not much accent). So after looking at the topo maps & my time constraints, it seemed I could go from sea level to the hightest point on the island if I made my own trail through the bush. Well… needless to say it was much more difficult then I had anticipated. The bush was so dense it was very hard to even move as I was constantly getting stuck on thorny things. Had I not changed my plan and went to the stream (or outright abandoned the hike) I would’ve never made it back in time for my ship… thankfully my detour with that stream/large waterfall was awesome. Due to timing I really didn’t capture the waterfall climbing area nearly as much as I should’ve, it really was quite exceptional an a real blast! I hiked it in May 2011.

THX – Jonathan (it IS “Jonathan” …right?) VERY thoughtful AND helpful of you to respond; and your willingness to “communicate” IS MUCH appreciated!

So, if a person were to try to “catch” “That” Creek “all-the-way-up” from seashore to the mt. top, where do you suppose you’d start-at { re: your “Hike” …St. John USVI}?

Yeah, I do NOT wanna get into the “same perdicament” you initially experienced with the “Bush-wacking” situation through the DENSE Interior…So, I thought I’d “start” at the outlet / ocean-side [?...if that IS where "The" Creek {with "Waterfall"} goes] and follow “It” on-up.

Are you from NY ? Please consider coming out to Colorado and we’d give Ya [ : ) ] a tour of The Rockies ! …we’ve done some pretty “Cool” hiking excursions up here and biking also [well, we live on "The Plains / Prairie" : ( , but are 'bout 40 - 50 miles E of Estes Pk. - which is the "thresh-hold" to RMNP ].

Hello Tom#2. Yes, my name is Jonathan however others have seen fit to call me by other names, some of which should not be repeated…

Regarding catching the Creek, I feel compelled to note that where I started my hike wasn’t actually in the park but rather besides it. I did wander through a very polite & friendly woman’s yard (unintentionally) so best to be mindful… all that said, the map on the video that shows my trail is highly accurate. If you go the the norther tip of Fish bay (or the road just north of it) and head straight north there’s no way to miss it. Have a peak at google maps (or some map service) and turn on “terrain” in the “satellite” menu. If you go to fish bay, you’ll see that there is a valley just north of fish bay, that’s your steam! A bit up the way there was another stream that fed into the same stream, I took the left option but if your adventurous, try the right who knows what you might find! Follow the stream until you hear cars or voices. If you hear voices, confirm their not just in your head… and then you’ll find yourself near a road. I should note that since it’s not a trail, there were some areas that were not easily passable, so you may have to be a bit creative but any seasoned hiker should be fine.

Best tip of all, if you end up on Rte 10 like I did & head west there is a stand that sells COLD beverages from the side of the road. Water, soda, sports drinks and beer! I downed a sports drink and beer in record time (I was very thirsty). Definitely hit the spot after that hot climb up the valley.

Another tip, there were Iguanas all over the place in the forest near fish bay. Jumping out of trees all over the place until of I finally took my camera out, then they decided to be coy… however it was quite interesting.

Thanks for the invite, I’ve always wanted to get out west, so many great hikes I’ve about… hopefully I’ll be able to do some videos out there soon but other tasks currently limit my hiking time much more then I’d like…

I’ll let you know how it goes with Us (Wife & I ) when we try to do some hiking around St. John Island USVI . Our plans are to stay there 4 days – so, we should have some opportunity to “DO” a lil’ more “outward-bounding” there than you had availbable due to your “Crusie” schedule.

Say…do you “Bike” – I’ve researched out some “Thails-To-Trails” site around “The” N.E. AND it looks like there’s some good ones.

Anyway, let’s “stay-in-touch” .

Friend, Tom #2

admin

February 7, 2013 at 6:59 pm

Hey Tom#2, no problem, glad to share my experiences (after all that’s what this site is about). It’s true, there is much burden to being Tom#2 including the pressure of living in Tom’s shadow.

I hope you & your wife have a great time in the USVI!

Purist

October 19, 2013 at 8:09 am

Pet peeve of my 14 year old… it’s St John not St Johns or St. John’s. That’s in Canada. One of our favorite places in the world. Can’t wait to go back.